Moving Day is the 9th installment of the Young Daniel Series, and to date is my longest. Daniel, at age 11, has just now settled into life at St. Antholian's in the 9th grade, when circumstances force a surprise move from his foster home, and his caseworker is not there to make the move herself. This is the first part of a double story, finishing with "Day Off" which will soon be completed.

For more information on the Young Daniel Series, please visit the Introduction located in my profile at my Dreamwidth.

Please note reader should be familiar with "First Day" to understand the strong bond between Daniel and his school environment. Please also note that not all stories in the series have been completed in order. Part 8 has not been published, and does not impact this story. Parts 1 & 3 also have not been published yet.

Title: Moving Day
Author: samantilles
Rating: PG/T
Fandom: Stargate: SG-1
Spoilers: Stargate: The Movie, 2x04 The Gamekeeper, 3x21 The Crystal Skull
Category: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Childhood
Series: Young Daniel
Part in Series: 9
Word Count: 18,553
Beta: many many thanks to DennyJ for beta'ing and running it through several times with a fine tooth comb!

Bill Newman turned back towards his desk to answer the phone just as he was heading out for the weekend. The District Attorney's office called to warn the Department of Social Services that a couple with a foster child would be served a warrant for arrest for tax evasion and fraud, and that the police would conduct a raid for suspected illicit materials that they were selling. The District Attorney's office wanted the child removed from the home before the warrant was served and the raid conducted on Monday, but whatever excuse Bill came up with would suffice. Bill Newman agreed and thanked the caller before hanging up with a sigh. He looked out his glass office walls to the emptying office. Realizing if he didn't move quickly, he would not be able to get the move done in time before everyone left for the weekend. He retrieved the file in question, a one Daniel Jackson, and searched the front of the file for the current caseworker. Nancy Johnson, it read. "Damn." She was out of town until the middle of the following week, as her sister passed away yesterday.

He took another look around the office and spotted Nanine Rogers packing up her lunch bag and getting to leave for the rest of the day. She was always looking for extra hours from her colleagues, and she regularly did weekend relocations for others. He took the file over to her desk and casually asked, "Need some extra hours? I've got an emergency relocation needed for this weekend, and its all yours."

Nanine took the file with a huff. "You know I don't do special needs, Bill." He expected this answer from her. The bright orange sticker along the edge of the file told her all she needed to know about the child, and she frequently made her feelings known about the special needs kids and the trouble they caused. The boy was another one of Nancy's hopeless troublemakers.

"Look, you know Nancy's out of town, and he needs to be moved before the police show up Monday morning to arrest the foster parents on tax evasion. They just don't want the kid in the way. You've done special needs before, and all the paperwork is the same." He looked around and watched as every other caseworker quickly exited the building, having noticed Bill coming around with weekend work.

"Fine, I'll take it. Its not like I had anything planned this weekend. But I will do it tomorrow. George is waiting for dinner." She grabbed up her purse and lunch bag as Bill stepped out of her way to allow her to leave.

"As long as it's before Monday morning, I'm happy."

Saturday passed quickly for Nanine, but relocations often made the day move quickly. She looked at the jacket of the file, took note of the boy's birthday and calculated his age. She looked on the first sheet inside the file to find his current location and called in a request for police escort to the Becker's for Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock. She moved the file out of her way and pulled out the foster family registry, pulling open the tab for special needs-approved families. Nanine flipped to the back of the list and picked the last couple there, Mark and Lisa Urquhart, and then pulled their file. She shook her head in contemplation, mentally commenting that they had no idea what they were getting into once she saw this would be their first placement. Special needs children were frequently returned quickly and most families removed themselves from the category entirely. Once she had their address and school district information, the paperwork went quickly, from the change of school enrollment and pulling of bus schedules. She put together a special needs packet for the family, including instructions on how to deal with unruly children and resources to call should they get in over their heads.

Nanine did not once look inside of Daniel's file after she began the paperwork, relying instead on the age of the child to determine his school year, placing him in the sixth grade. The New York City school system was quite good at sorting out special needs students who are misplaced when transferred, and she assumed MacArthur Middle would handle any issues if he were held back a year or two.

Late Saturday evening, she gave the Urquharts a phone call to let them know she would be delivering Daniel to them Sunday evening. They seemed quite excited to receive their first foster child. She didn't have the heart to break it to them that they were receiving a special needs child, but they would find out soon enough.

Daniel stood on the kitchen stool scrubbing out Mrs. Becker's prize spaghetti pot when he heard a knock on the door. No matter how much homework he had, Sunday always meant household chores to keep the Beckers happy. Laundry began bright and early in the morning, and the bathroom was always clean before Mr. Becker woke up at noon. He was nearly done with the kitchen, having scrubbed the floor and wiped down the windows. All he had left was the last of the dishes and vacuuming the TV room, and he would be done for the day. Hopefully he would then have several solid hours where he could start studying for his Latin exam the next morning.

He stopped the scrubbing and watched to see if either of the Beckers would answer the door. He heard the second knock, and stepped down to answer it. Wiping his wet hands on his pants, he opened the door to see a woman and a police officer.

"Can I help you?"

"Are you Daniel Jackson?" The woman asked, peering over her glasses at him. The police officer stood stoically out of the way.

"Who are you?" He smarted back, refusing to open the door any further and suggest she was welcome to come in.

"Nanine Rogers, Department of Social Services. Go get your things packed, Daniel."

Daniel stared at her. "I don't know you; you are not my case worker."

Nanine huffed and showed her Social Services ID to him. "Mrs. Johnson is out of town this weekend. I'm taking her place. Now go get packed while I explain this to the Beckers."

Daniel examined the ID closely before calling out for Mrs. Becker. The muumuu-clad lady opened the door wider. "Who the hell are you? You're interrupting our TV time."

Daniel disappeared to his room, and despite being annoyed at the lady who showed up, eagerly looked forward to leaving the Beckers. He had been in the system long enough to know they used him as a servant boy and enjoyed the benefits of the extra paycheck, but they left him alone when he did what they told him to do and they didn't stop him from going to school. He quickly packed up his ragged clothes and pulled out his suitcase of precious belongings out of the corner of his closet. In all the time he had been at the Beckers, he never unpacked his suitcase; he opened it on occasion and lovingly cared for the items in it, but always returned them to the suitcase when he was finished.

Nanine was waiting impatiently at the door for Daniel, and Mrs. Becker was out on the patio with the phone shouting about something. He couldn't help but smile when the phone cord, caught in the closed patio door, stopped Mrs. Becker from pacing back and forth. Nanine took a hold of his shoulder and escorted him out of the house. She joined him in the back of the police squad car, and Daniel found the ride to the new location a little offsetting. Normally Mrs. Johnson just took her car and sometimes they would stop for lunch on the way. She also talked to him and kept him talking in return.

"Did you tell Rocco about the move?" Daniel asked, but Nanine shushed him. "Does the school know?"

"Of course it does. It'll expect you Monday morning. Now shush!" Nanine pulled a magazine out of her purse and began to peruse it, and Daniel quickly got the point that he was annoying her. He contemplated annoying her further, but he had no idea how much power she had over him. He longed for Mrs. Johnson to be here instead of this woman.